Letter of thanks for your visit謝降顧狀
1You turned the immortal carriage of the Three Pure Ones toward my poor house of one plot
某啓。某未遂山棲。尙從塵役。所居官舍。深在軍營。雖異衡門。實同陋巷。旣乏君章之蘭菊。可襲馨香。空餘仲蔚之蓬蒿。偏資寂寞。春日則蝶牽晝夢。秋風則蛩助夜吟。以此爲娛。無他所覬。今者方經離亂。再獲起居。但喜攀父母之恩。却慙下兒女之淚。況某叨榮秦爵。就學漢儀。姜維之膽氣雖麤。鄧艾之口詞甚訥。唯深感激。莫備啓陳。伏蒙尙書念以遠方。察其獨立。俯憐素志。每煦温顏。聽及階及席之言。佇銘骨銘肌之懇早來又蒙降三淸之仙駕。顧一畝之窮居。方慙隨入室之賢。豈料忝軾廬之念。非所敢望。將何自安。莫不恩光遠耀於殊鄕。卑迹永超於末路。揣庸賤則華夷有隔。較輝榮則古今無倫。數年乖豹隱之期。常低俗眼。此日覩鳳儀之後。豁展愁眉。下情無任感戴欣抃兢惕之至。謹祗候起居陳謝。謹狀。
I submit this. I have not yet won a dwelling in the mountains, and I still follow the labor of the dusty world. The official house where I live lies deep inside the army camp. Though it is not a gate of crossed poles, it is truly like a mean alley. It lacks the orchids and chrysanthemums of Junzhang to carry on their fragrance, and only the mugwort and wormwood of Zhongwei are left, so that loneliness alone is my portion. On spring days butterflies draw out my daytime dreams, and in the autumn wind crickets help my chanting at night. In this I take my pleasure, and I look for nothing else. Now I have just come through war and disorder and can pay my respects to you once more. I rejoice only that I may hold to a parent's kindness, yet I am ashamed to let fall a child's tears. Moreover I have unworthily taken the honor of a rank of Qin and have gone to study the rites of Han. The courage of Jiang Wei in me is coarse, and the speech of Deng Ai in me stammers badly. I am only deeply moved, and I cannot set my thanks out in order. You, Minister, have thought of me as a man of a far country and have seen that I stand alone. You have stooped to pity my plain purpose and have always warmed me with a kindly face. You have listened to my words at your steps and at your mat, and I wait to cut your kindness into bone and flesh. Early this morning you came down besides with the immortal carriage of the Three Pure Ones and looked in upon my poor house of one plot. I was ashamed to follow the worthy men who enter your room. How could I have reckoned that I would unworthily receive the thought that bows from the carriage before a humble hut? It is not what I dared hope for, and with what shall I now set myself at ease? Your kind light shines far in another land, and my low traces rise forever above the end of the road. If I measure my dull and lowly self, there is a wall between the Chinese and the outer peoples. If I weigh this shining honor, there is nothing like it in old times or now. For some years I missed the term when the leopard hides, and I always kept my common eyes lowered. On this day, after seeing the bearing of a phoenix, my sorrowing brows have opened wide. My humble heart cannot bear the fullness of its gratitude, its glad applause, and its awe. I respectfully wait upon you, ask after your health, and set out my thanks. Respectfully submitted.